Enter the 2012 Pick of the Flicks contest here, and you could win 150 movie passes

Editor's note: The contest is completed. Winners will be announced March 4.

Looks like this year’s Academy Awards will be more of an insider love fest than ever.

The two leading nominees — “Hugo,” with 11 nods, and “The Artist,” with 10 — are films about the art and business of making films, which gives the whole affair an added dimension of self-referential back-patting.

But our concern today is determining which of those two films is likely to score the most statuettes come Feb. 26. And the reason you should be puzzling over such prognostications — and worrying if “The Descendants” or “The Help” or “Midnight in Paris” or “War Horse” will stage an Oscar upset — is this: We’re launching our humble, annual Pick of the Flicks Oscar contest, alongside our exclusive partner, Celebration Cinema.

Those of you familiar with our three-decades-and-counting contest know the drill, but for you newcomers, here’s the spiel: fill out the ballot below, which features 16 Oscar categories and two tiebreakers. The person who gets the most correct will win 150 movie passes — those being the coveted Golden Tickets good at any and all Celebration Cinema locations — and be the guest of honor at our annual Oscar party, which will feature a screening of a new movie, and be attended by 100 runners-up and their guests. I will host the shindig and hand out a number of nifty door prizes, as well.

But first, a couple of side notes: One, be sure to peruse the complete rules. I know the type is teensy, but it contains lots of important details and suchlike. Two, if you’re familiar with the contest, you’ll note a small alteration in the categories — since there were only two nominees for Best Song, that category has been eliminated and replaced with Best Visual Effects.

Courtesy PhotoIdentify the actor in this picture to answer Tiebreaker #1.

You also have until 11:59 p.m. on Feb. 25 to enter. That's the day before the Oscars -- but you already knew that.

Now, some of you have requested the (cough) expert opinion of your local film critic before you click away on your ballots. Perhaps you are of questionable intelligence and want to use my ballot as a guide. Or perhaps you’re all too aware of my (cough) questionable track record and want to know what NOT to pick. Either way, click here to read it. Take it or leave it. Use at your own risk. And all that.